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Nature crisis: Talks resume on global plan to protect biodiversity
‘Not a walk in the park’: calls for visitors to ‘respect’ Snowdon
Concerns about lasting damage after influx of people, many of whom maybe ill-prepared to scale mountain
A conservation charity is urging visitors to “respect” one of the UK’s most beloved mountains amid growing concerns that a sharp increase in the number of walkers is causing lasting damage and too many people are trying to climb the peak without preparing properly.
The Snowdonia Society said Snowdon – Yr Wyddfa in Welsh – was being blighted by footpath erosion, littering and careless wild camping. The charity also said mountain rescue teams were having to save people who try to climb the 1,085-metre (3,560ft) peak in north Wales without the right equipment.
Continue reading...Australia Market Roundup: Issued ACCUs top 99 mln as ASX200 net zero targets balloon
Extinction Rebellion blocks busy junction in London
Protesters gather in Covent Garden while activists stage diversion march up Charing Cross Road
Extinction Rebellion protesters have blocked one of Covent Garden’s busiest junctions on the first day of the group’s latest wave of protests targeting London.
At about midday, activists from the group chained themselves together to block the roundabout at Long Acre as a van pulled up with a pink table structure. It was quickly assembled and hundreds of other activists streamed to the roundabout.
Continue reading...Euro Markets: Midday Update
Australia eyes 2022 start for industrial carbon crediting scheme
Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook | Rebecca Solnit
Climate-conscious individual choices are good – but not nearly enough to save the planet. More than personal virtue, we need collective action
Personal virtue is an eternally seductive goal in progressive movements, and the climate movement is no exception. People pop up all the time to boast of their domestic arrangements or chastise others for what they eat or how they get around. The very short counter-argument is that individual acts of thrift and abstinence won’t get us the huge distance we need to go in this decade. We need to exit the age of fossil fuels, reinvent our energy landscape, rethink how we do almost everything. We need collective action at every scale from local to global – and the good people already at work on all those levels need help in getting a city to commit to clean power or a state to stop fracking or a nation to end fossil-fuel subsidies. The revolution won’t happen by people staying home and being good.
But the oil companies would like you to think that’s how it works. It turns out that the concept of the “carbon footprint”, that popular measure of personal impact, was the brainchild of an advertising firm working for BP. As Mark Kaufman wrote this summer:
Continue reading...Taiwan EPA hopes carbon tax can fend off CBAM backlash
When Greenland was green: rapid global warming 55 million years ago shows us what the future may hold
How can Britain be committed to net zero when it’s about to drill for millions more barrels of oil? | Greg Muttitt
Hypocrisy rules as we prepare to host Cop26 and Boris Johnson prepares to approve a new oilfield off Shetland
Just months before hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, the UK government will decide whether to approve a massive new oilfield 75 miles north-west of Shetland. Boris Johnson has hinted at a likely go-ahead. The Cambo field, being developed by private-equity-owned Siccar Point and Shell, would produce 170m barrels of oil – oil the world cannot afford to burn.
The Cambo decision is the government’s first test since the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned against developing new oil and gas fields. In a landmark report this year, the IEA found that that already-operating fields will produce more oil and gas over the coming decades than can be consumed if global heating is limited to 1.5C.
Continue reading...Venomous sea snakes may attack divers during mating season, study suggests
Acts of aggression likely because of ‘mistaken identity during sexual interactions’, researchers write
Highly venomous and sexually aroused sea snakes may attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during breeding season, a new study suggests.
Related: Case of the mystery sea snakes: why are reptiles washing up on New Zealand’s shores?
Continue reading...Timeline to gas grant: Empire paid $4,500 to attend Liberal fundraiser, before site visit
Empire Energy's path to securing a $21 million grant to drill for gas in the Beetaloo Basin started with a $4,500 Liberal Party fundraiser.
The post Timeline to gas grant: Empire paid $4,500 to attend Liberal fundraiser, before site visit appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Grattan calls for $10 billion fund to “bend the curve” on industry emissions
Grattan calls for $10 billion industrial transformation future fund to start "bending the curve" on industry emissions.
The post Grattan calls for $10 billion fund to “bend the curve” on industry emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel
Cutting edge battery storage technology designed to provide crucial grid services traditionally delivered by fossil fuel plants will be showcased in Tahiti.
The post Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Massive role:” NSW to play match-maker to bring renewable hydrogen to industry
NSW government launches new platform to match-make renewable hydrogen producers and industry, sees "massive role" for new technology.
The post “Massive role:” NSW to play match-maker to bring renewable hydrogen to industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.
New Zealand to raise ETS price ceiling
“It’s ridiculous:” Lack of leadership leaves Australia starved of capital for energy transition
Leading investment group says Australia is being starved of capital for the energy transition, and the regulatory bodies do not appear to know it.
The post “It’s ridiculous:” Lack of leadership leaves Australia starved of capital for energy transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Land of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)
Blueprint for emissions reduction: major industry policy changes needed for Australia to reach net zero
As emissions from industrial sites increase, Grattan Institute recommends a new future fund be set up similar to the national green bank
Greenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s industrial sites have risen 24% since 2005, and need to be addressed now if the country is to have a chance of reaching net zero by 2050, a new report says.
The Melbourne-based think tank Grattan Institute has released a blueprint to reduce emissions from major industry, citing government projections that without action they are expected to stay around current levels until 2030.
Continue reading...UK switch to hydrogen power ‘could add same emissions as 1m petrol cars’
Government’s plan to use ‘blue’ fossil-fuel hydrogen alongside green version raises concern, say campaigners
Opting for hydrogen that is made using fossil fuels rather than renewable electricity could create up to 8m tonnes of carbon emissions every year by 2050, according to an analysis of government data.
The figures show that the use of fossil-fuel hydrogen, or “blue hydrogen”, would create the same carbon emissions each year that more than a million petrol cars would produce, compared with using zero-carbon “green hydrogen”.
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